News and reports from the Department of Justice.

News Release: DETROIT - A federal jury convicted the leader of the “It’s Just Us" (IJU) street gang of racketeering and murder, United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced today. These convictions conclude a two-week trial held in Port Huron before U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland.

News Release: RENO - A Reno man was returned to the United States from Mexico where he was arrested on a federal warrant for drug trafficking violations. On Dec. 13, 2022, the defendant made his initial appearance in the Southern District of California and was ordered detained.

News Release: FARGO - United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that on January 6, 2023, United States District Judge Daniel L. Hovland sentenced 32-year-old Darius Sledge, a/k/a Ace, a/k/a Man Man, a/k/a Frank Love, a/k/a Gary, a/k/a Bill, to serve 30 years in prison followed by three years supervised release.

News Release: WILMINGTON, Del. - David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that former Delaware State Trooper Jamal Merrell, 32, of Newark, was sentenced today to six months in prison for federal civil rights violations. Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Pat Thynge pronounced the sentence.

News Release: LAS VEGAS - A Las Vegas business owner and operator who pleaded guilty to wire fraud was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey to 34 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for fraudulently soliciting more than $5 million in investments for his digital advertisement business.

News Release: SHREVEPORT, La. - United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Alexander D. Pennington, 35, of Las Vegas, Nevada, has been sentenced by United States District Judge S. Maurice Hicks, Jr. to 30 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, on child pornography charges. Pennington was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $10,000.

News Release: The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Vermont stated that on Dec. 27, 2022, Jermaine Dixon, 39, of Brooklyn, New York, was sentenced in United States District Court in Burlington, Vermont to serve 14 months in prison after his guilty plea to one count of distribution of cocaine base. U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss also ordered Dixon to serve a three-year term of supervised release and to pay a $100 special assessment.

News Release: NEWARK, N.J. - A Somerset County, New Jersey, man today admitted possessing multiple images and videos of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

News Release: Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, Jean Pierre Njock, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, today announced that JOHN MATAVA, 58, of Coventry, has been charged by federal criminal complaint with offenses related to his receipt of COVID-19 relief funds.

News Release: Orlando, Florida - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Nacoe Ray Brown (54, Baltimore, MD) has pleaded guilty to bank robbery and to violating the terms of his supervised release. Brown faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the bank robbery offense and up to 3 years’ imprisonment for violating the terms of his supervised release. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

News Release: Trevor Thomas Bickford, 19, of Wells, Maine, has been charged with federal crimes in connection with Bickford’s efforts to wage jihad by killing U.S. Government officials and his knife attack on three NYPD officers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Bickford was charged by complaint with attempting to...

News Release: A Florida doctor was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for engaging in a massive multi-year scheme to bill health care benefit programs for fraudulent tests and treatments for vulnerable patients seeking treatment for drug and/or alcohol addiction. This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice’s Sober Homes Initiative.

News Release: NEWARK, N.J. - A Somerset County, New Jersey, man today admitted possessing multiple images and videos of child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

News Release: SCRANTON - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that William Heck, age 41, of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty on January 5, 2023, before U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion, to a charge of possession with intent to distribute more than fifty grams of methamphetamine and additional amounts of fentanyl.

News Release: DENVER - The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces a federal grand jury has indicted Leon Askew, age 50, of Colorado Springs, for firearm and ammunition possession by a convicted felon.